So there are lots of interesting meta list out there. What about those may not be top tier but are just out right fun to play and or play against theme list you have put together?

stuff like Kath Scarlet and her Binary Pirates, or Gavin and 3 RS vet X-Wings. Vader and Black Squadron, ect.

The classic Alphabet Squadron:

Phoenix Squadron Pilot (29)
Crack Shot (1)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2

Blue Squadron Pilot (41)
Jamming Beam (0)
Tractor Beam (3)
Stabilized S-Foils (2)
Ship total: 46 Half Points: 23 Threshold: 4

Blue Squadron Scout (43)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship total: 43 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 4

Blue Squadron Escort (40)
R3 Astromech (3)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship total: 43 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 3

Gray Squadron Bomber (30)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Seismic Charges (3)
Ship total: 38 Half Points: 19 Threshold: 4
Total: 200

Flying a squad where every ship is different may not be the most tactically sound, but it is fun! Upgrades can obviously vary, let me know what you think is best!

Themed lists I like/would like to fly:

- Red Squadron Xwings

- Rebels Spectres

- Sacrif Rebels (xwings, ywings and uwings)

- Black Sun lists:

• Rebels: This one is a bit of a stretch, since it's about local alt-arts. Every January, the local TO tends to do some X-Wing demos at a local convention, and the Alt Arts tend to be snow-themed. A year and a half ago, it was Hoth, so Snowspeeder Luke and Wedge, Veteran Tail Gunner with Dak Ralter's picture (oh, the irony), and Tactical Officer with General Veers' picture. So Luke/Wedge/Norra with VTG (and K-2SO because it's sweet).
  • Alternately, triple E-Wing. Previously, I ran 3 Knaves with R3, two with Proton, 1 with Plasma Torpedoes. They can afford a bit more now, but I'm not sure my favorite variant.
• Imperial: Palp Defenders. It was my first 2e list, partly out of some hipster irony, but I've always found it surprisingly decent. Kind of a PITA to play against, since they just keep doing 4ks and Defenders can be these engines of inevitability.
• Scum: Fang Aces. Outmaneuver Fenn. Fearless Old T. Elusive Kad Solus. Probably worse than Fenn + 3, or 4 Fearless Skulls, but the aces are sweet. The key is that everyone has their own trick, their own talent. Elusive is particularly cool on Kad. Pull a flip, get a reroll and two focus? Nice.
• Resistance: Red Vets, usually Heroic/Advanced Optics. Could be Heroic/Hull. There's just such scope for imagination in 4 T-70s, so many ways it can be put together. One of the most interesting spam lists to think about in a listbuilding sense.
• First Order: 3 Init 1 Silencers + ?? I've been doing some Outmaneuver Malarus, but the last ship is flexible. It'd be a 4th Silencer, but it doesn't fit.
• Jedi: 3 CLT Aces. Regen Anakin is almost wholesome when he's only got 2 attack dice.
• Separatists: Mass Belbullabs. I've got 5 of them, all shiny and silver (trimmed Gold, Red, Blue, Green, B&W), and I just think they're fun. My latest variant is 2x Feethan Ottraw Ottopilots, 2 Crack Shot Skakoan Aces, Crack Shot/Soulless One Grievous. He might or might not have Impervium, I don't recall how the points work out.

One of my favorite thematic lists has always been the Death Star Dream Team, with Luke, Biggs, and Wedge. I would also put Protons, R2-D2, and Instinctive Aim on Luke to stick with the theme.

Four Fearless Skulls.

.....

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

.....

Is this like that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? No toon can resist the old shave and a haircut routine!

waits for @FTS Gecko to start changing colors fighting his urges.....

Outer Rim cartel using Mandal Motors comercial products to protect their grey operations. Currently there are options missing sadly, so when I do stick in that theme I'm stuck with Scyks, Kimos, and Starvipers as my options (iirc Fangs weren't for sale outside of the Mandalorian clans, not that I'm one to fly them. Playing space chicken is something that grates heavily against my sense of self preservation.)

Alternatively I run old school Rebellion (Legends, pre- T-65). Zs and Ys. Can fly as either Rebels or S&V though the Rebel version has some advantages over the S&V version that is hard to adjust for cost wise.

I like Vader and a bunch of ties

Darth Vader (67)
Sense (5)
Passive Sensors (3)
Afterburners (6)

“Mauler” Mithel (31)

Academy Pilot (22)

Academy Pilot (22)

Academy Pilot (22)

Academy Pilot (22)
Total: 200

Talking about theme:

What ships / pilots would do a proper escort for a Palpatine carrying Shuttle? (lets assume epic points scope)

10 minutes ago, LUZ_TAK said:

Talking about theme:

What ships / pilots would do a proper escort for a Palpatine carrying Shuttle? (lets assume epic points scope)

Which era?

Galactic Empire. Txs.

Sticking to Canon availability, from what I can recall off hand, /Ins and /Lns in a 1:3 or 1:2 ratio (Vader eliminated the Tie Defender program iirc). Breaking away from Canon availability a Defender swarm maybe.

15 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

Sticking to Canon availability, from what I can recall off hand, /Ins and /Lns in a 1:3 or 1:2 ratio (Vader eliminated the Tie Defender program iirc). Breaking away from Canon availability a Defender swarm maybe.

What about named pilots?

1 hour ago, LUZ_TAK said:

Talking about theme:

What ships / pilots would do a proper escort for a Palpatine carrying Shuttle? (lets assume epic points scope)

TIE Interceptors seem best. I4 Generics with Hull and Shield upgrades. Dig out the all-red 1e Imperial Guard paintjobs.

45 minutes ago, LUZ_TAK said:

What about named pilots?

That I'm not sure about. Inferno squad was never near the Emperor in that capacity if ever iirc, Soontir doesn't exist in Canon nor does the other named Interceptor pilot iirc. The rest of the named /Ln pilots were part of Vader's personal squadron at the first Death Star, even though only 2 of them flew with him in the trench. The best you're probably going to beable to do is run Vader with generic Black Squadies for one wing and have a "special dettachment" of Sabers to represent an elite /In wing assigned for escort detail (Saber squad itself isn't Canon). Could also go heck with it and just hand wave the named pilots in, nothing really wrong with doing that.

Hold on, I'm pretty sure Maarek Stele was part of Palp's retinue: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Maarek_Stele

1 hour ago, Hiemfire said:

Vader eliminated the Tie Defender program iirc

Did he? I'd presumed it mostly died off after Thrawn got tentacled by the whale-squids.

Based off of Rebels, Rogue One, and the Kieron Gillen Darth Vader comic, here's how I understand things:

• Each of several powerful Imperials all had their own pet projects, and the success of the project had more to do with their political success than the actual worth of the project.
  • Tagge wanted Super Star Destroyers. His spreadsheets told him that bigger capital ships would be a good investment for long-term strategic campaigns.
  • Thrawn was beind the TIE Defender project, which would have given the Imperials a massive tactical advantage over snub-fighter based Rebels. Thrawn was mostly an overconfident psychopath with a thin veneer of grace, but he did have flashes of insight, and this probably would have been the actual best investment.
  • Krennic and Tarkin were all in on "Stardust" a.k.a The Death Star, the least-useful as a weapon, but a powerful symbol to inspire fear.
• Here's how events went down.
  • Thrawn got pulled off into neverneverland by the Purrgil, and the factory where the Defender prototypes were being built was lost to the Rebellion on Lothal, so it just seems kind of natural that the project dies off without it's strongest backer.
    • The fact that their ace test pilot Vult Skerris got waxed probably also killed the mood.
  • Tarkin won politically (buhbye Krennic!), so the Death Star was the way they went. Didn't really work out for him, but still.
  • After Yavin, newly promoted Grand General Tagge was the only one left, so they started going Super Star Destroyer for a while, but he picked the wrong side in some Imperial infighting, and Vader killed him.
  • Not sure there's more development on why they went back to the Death Star, but it seems natural given the point was for it to be a trap. Leaking intel about a new Death Star seems like better bait to draw out the entire Rebel fleet than leaking the location of a new factory or shipyard.
• In any case, the Empire always crumbles under the weight of it's own corruption and ineptitude.

13 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Did he? I'd presumed it mostly died off after Thrawn got tentacled by the whale-squids.

Based off of Rebels, Rogue One, and the Kieron Gillen Darth Vader comic, here's how I understand things:

• Each of several powerful Imperials all had their own pet projects, and the success of the project had more to do with their political success than the actual worth of the project.
  • Tagge wanted Super Star Destroyers. His spreadsheets told him that bigger capital ships would be a good investment for long-term strategic campaigns.
  • Thrawn was beind the TIE Defender project, which would have given the Imperials a massive tactical advantage over snub-fighter based Rebels. Thrawn was mostly an overconfident psychopath with a thin veneer of grace, but he did have flashes of insight, and this probably would have been the actual best investment.
  • Krennic and Tarkin were all in on "Stardust" a.k.a The Death Star, the least-useful as a weapon, but a powerful symbol to inspire fear.
• Here's how events went down.
  • Thrawn got pulled off into neverneverland by the Purrgil, and the factory where the Defender prototypes were being built was lost to the Rebellion on Lothal, so it just seems kind of natural that the project dies off without it's strongest backer.
    • The fact that their ace test pilot Vult Skerris got waxed probably also killed the mood.
  • Tarkin won politically (buhbye Krennic!), so the Death Star was the way they went. Didn't really work out for him, but still.
  • After Yavin, newly promoted Grand General Tagge was the only one left, so they started going Super Star Destroyer for a while, but he picked the wrong side in some Imperial infighting, and Vader killed him.
  • Not sure there's more development on why they went back to the Death Star, but it seems natural given the point was for it to be a trap. Leaking intel about a new Death Star seems like better bait to draw out the entire Rebel fleet than leaking the location of a new factory or shipyard.
• In any case, the Empire always crumbles under the weight of it's own corruption and ineptitude.

Like I said, iirc and in this case I recalled incorrectly. Either way, if focusing on a Canon themed escort squadron for Emperor Palpatine Tie Defenders are out of the question with the information we do have. The new Canon for the era hasn't been fully fleshed out from what I can tell so they might still exist, though I could be wrong.

I don't know how "themed" it is but let me present you the squad I am currently flying:

Vader's Inquisition

(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(6) Afterburners
(3) Passive Sensors
Points: 76

(42) "Duchess" [TIE/sk Striker]
(11) Fifth Brother
Points: 53

(35) Inquisitor [TIE Advanced v1]
Points: 35

(35) Inquisitor [TIE Advanced v1]
Points: 35

Total points: 199

A RPG party: (resistance 4)

BlackSq: knight

CovaLeia: wizard

Kaz: rogue

Zizi: ranger?

1 hour ago, Hiemfire said:

Like I said, iirc and in this case I recalled incorrectly. Either way, if focusing on a Canon themed escort squadron for Emperor Palpatine Tie Defenders are out of the question with the information we do have. The new Canon for the era hasn't been fully fleshed out from what I can tell so they might still exist, though I could be wrong.

Hey, I just figured maybe you'd read something I hadn't.

It's X-wings all the way down.

What's my theme?